‘The training wheels are off’: The Philadelphia Union fall 4-1 to Messi’s Inter Miami in Subaru Park sellout

Among the many soccer accolades Argentine star Lionel Messi has achieved in his career — seven Ballon D’or awards, a FIFA World Cup, 10 Spanish league titles — a win at the fortress that is Chester’s Subaru Park has been added to that list.

In a 4-1 win, Messi’s Inter Miami handed the Philadelphia Union its second-ever home defeat since 2021 to advance to the final of the Leagues Cup in front of a stadium-record 19,778 crowd. Many fans spent hundreds of dollars to see the superstar live.

At stake in Tuesday night’s game was a spot in the Saturday final against either Mexican side C.F. Monterrey or Nashville SC, looking to clinch the newly revamped competition between clubs from Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. For the Union, the final was guaranteed to be in Chester.

Fans were in force around Subaru Park, tailgating hours before kick-off. Among all the Union jerseys in the lots and fan zones was a strong showing of Messi shirts, whether it be Inter Miami, the Argentina national team, or Barcelona.

One space where those fans were given the cold shoulder was the lot where the Sons of Ben, one of the Union’s biggest independent supporters groups, were pregaming. Any opposing jerseys that strayed too close were quickly heckled away.

Erick Jusino, philanthropy director for the Sons of Ben, outlined how, despite Messi’s place as one of the greatest — if not the greatest — to ever take the soccer field, the group planned to boo him for the entire game.

“That respect is there, but you’re in Philadelphia and we’re going to make sure you know that.” Jusino said.

That “Philly welcome” was also felt in the stadium. A chorus of boos rang out as soon as the Miami squad entered the stadium for pre-game training, and a loud “you suck” followed each name of the starting lineup as they walked out — though Messi’s name also received competing cheers.

The game couldn’t have started worse for the Union. Three minutes in, Josef Martinez opened the scoring for Inter, running onto a pass from defender Sergii Kryvtsov.

The Union came close to equalizing in the eighth minute when Daniel Gazdag found himself one-on-one with Inter goalkeeper Drake Callender, but couldn’t slot the ball past him.

Messi doubled Inter’s lead in the 20th minute — his ninth in his first six games for the Herons — with a low, drilled shot that Union keeper Andre Blake could only get his fingertips on.

Gazdag came closest to scoring for the Union again in the 29th minute with his own long-range effort, but Callender was again on hand to parry it away.

Miami made it three in first-half stoppage time, with Taylor Robert setting up debutant Jordi Alba — one of Messi’s former Barcelona teammates brought in to help him.

The Union came into the second half eager to come back; Inter seemed more eager to slow the tempo to a crawl.

Chris Donovan found himself past Callender in the 55th minute, but was too wide out to get the ball into the goal.

Club captain Alejandro Bedoya, on as a second-half substitute, found the breakthrough goal for the Union in the 73rd minute when he knocked in a deflected ball from a corner kick.

The Union’s momentum from that goal was drained, though, when Miami sub Ruiz Diaz made it 4-1 in the 84th minute.

The result was the first time the Union had conceded four goals at home since a January 2020 friendly match against Atlanta United, and the first four goal home loss in competitive play since October 2018.

After the game, Union head coach Jim Curtin said the goals his side conceded were uncharacteristic of their usual standard, but also praised the quality of his opponents.

“Maybe we were too excited, maybe showed a little too much respect,” Curtin said. “but we got punished by a good team and we got humbled a bit.”

As far as the impact that Messi is having on the level of play in MLS, Curtin agreed that Miami’s team building this season has been transformational.

“I think [Messi] coming here is going to change a ton, and it should. The training wheels are off,” he said.

Team captain Bedoya also spoke optimistically about the new standard Miami is setting for soccer in America.

“Miami is pushing the envelope,” he said. “It’s good for the league, it’s good for soccer in our country, for our region, and just on a global level — MLS, with the World Cup coming here. I do think we find ourselves at an inflection point, where things are definitely starting to pick up.”